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Tuesday, 30 October 2012

This past
weekend I had the chance to see Snow Patrol in concert. Not only are they my
favourite band ever, but I have some of their songs on the playlist for my WIP.
Talk about an amazing opportunity for writing inspiration! Seriously though,
writing inspiration or not, I’d pay good money to listen to Gary Lightbody
yodel the phone book.

We drove
five hours to get to the concert and it was worth every freezing snowy minute
and every penny we spent on tickets--especially seeing as on the way there I
managed to crank out a detailed outline of book two in my trilogy (Yay!). Have to do
something to keep busy in the car right? This was my son’s first rock concert
so it was a fun family milestone and a total blast for him. And as an added
bonus, I got to see my sister Jaime and her hubby who managed to get last
minute tickets right across the aisle from us.

Here we are before the concert, and yes, that's my brother-in-law making wacky faces behind us.

Not the clearest picture, but there's Snow Patrol putting on an amazing show. The highlight for me was their performance of "Open Your Eyes", which I listened to when writing a certain important scene in my WIP. Also enjoyed hearing "Run" and "New York". Both are on my playlist as well. Loved listening to Gary Lightbody's lovely Northern Irish accent almost as much as the music, and man is he energetic. No wonder he's so skinny (thus the name "Lightbody", hmm?). Phenomenal show. I left with a huge smile and very numb eardrums. Oh, and an ecstatic twelve year old :) I would go to another of their concerts in a heartbeat. Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds and Jake Bugg opened the concert and both were great as well.

Before heading home, we checked out Wee Book Inn, a very cool used bookstore. For of any of you Firefly/Castle fans out there, Nathan Fillion used to buy comic books at Wee Book Inn when he was a kid. It seems that whenever we go away anywhere we always end up at a bookstore of some kind.

This is Yvan, one of the cats that lives at Wee Book Inn. He's seventeen years old and has the squishiest face I've ever seen. So adorable. His buddy Bunny was sleeping in the display case under the front till when we paid for our books. The guy working the till said there's something fitting about having cats in a bookstore and I have to say I wholeheartedly agree. Petting the cat was just as fun as buying books, and that's saying something!

Another not so stellar picture taken by my husband's phone, but perhaps clear enough for you to see the rows of delicious cupcakes in the case. This is Fuss Cupcakes and it's becoming a tradition to stop there whenever we go to Edmonton. Sure their cupcakes are delicious (I chose Pumpkin Spice and Chocolate Addiction), but the best thing about them is that they're peanut free! This is a huge deal in my family because it means my son gets to enjoy them as well. In fact, he's the one that found Fuss Cupcakes on the internet. This was lunch on the long ride home. I'm such a horrible mom. :)

Monday, 29 October 2012

The Raven Boys is only the second Maggie Stiefvater book I’ve read, but
it certainly won’t be the last. I’m already counting the days till the sequel
comes out. Here’s why:

Characters

This is very much a character driven book and Maggie Stiefvater has
created a fascinating cast for readers to follow.

I like how Blue starts the story despising the Aglionby boys and then
finds her assumptions about them challenged as she gets to know them better.
Despite the fact they attend a school for the privileged they all have issues
that soon endear them to Blue in ways she didn’t expect. The author
communicates these issues so subtly, for example, a fray in Adam’s sweater tips off Blue that he isn’t one of the typical rich kids that attend
Aglionby. Blue goes from labeling the
boys as “the Elegant Boy”, “President Cell Phone, the smudgy one, or their
hostile friend” to discovering that, like her, they’re real people with real
problems.

The relationships in this book were complicated and I really enjoyed that.
Each of the Raven Boys could be difficult to get along with and often they got
under each other’s skin. Toss in Blue, the slightly eccentric daughter of a
psychic, and the dynamic gets even more complex.

I also enjoyed Blue’s
unconventional home life with her mother’s psychic friends. Out of the adult
characters, I liked Persephone the most. Her soft spoken and spacey demeanor
reminded me a lot of Luna Lovegood from Harry Potter. Interesting considering
the Raven Boys had a bit of a Marauders thing going on (perhaps another reason
I liked them so much).

My favourite character overall was Adam. The issues in his home life caused me to be the most invested in him. You'd have to have a heart of stone not to be moved by his story line.

Plot

The plot of The Raven Boys seems designed first and foremost to build the
characters. The book centers around a quest involving ley lines and searching
for a legendary sleeping king that will grant his finder a magical favour. The
characters have their own reasons for participating in the quest and wanting
this favour. Those reasons say a lot about who they are and, more importantly, who
they want to be. It’s easy to see how a quest with such a prize could lead to
dissension even among close friends.

Initially I found this book a little slow, but once it became evident
that it was far more about the characters than the actual quest itself, I
settled into the pace. Perhaps that’s because I loved the characters and wasn’t
eager for this segment of their story to end.

There was also one particularly spooky twist that I did not see coming.
In looking back, I can say that the author definitely played fair in
foreshadowing this revelation.

Romance

The premise of the romance in this book hooked me in right away. Blue’s mother and her psychic pals predict
that if Blue kisses her true love, he’ll die. Kind of makes relationships
tricky, so naturally the author introduces two different boys that Blue
wouldn’t mind smooching. The way Blue initially discovers the identity of her
“true love” is both creepy and intriguing and I was immediately eager for them
to meet in person. Of course her supposed “true love” isn’t the boy that Blue initially
gravitates to—that would be too easy. This had to be one of the most creative
takes on a love triangle I’ve ever seen and I honestly don’t know who to root
for because I like both of the potential love interests.

Overall
Writing

I don’t feel remotely qualified to comment on this, but I’ll give it a go.
Maggie Stiefvater writes beautifully and has a very distinct style. In my
opinion this is the kind of author new writers should aspire to be like. She
knows how to create vivid pictures of characters and settings with only a
handful of details. Her writing is often poetic, yet not overly flowery, and
manages to capture a feeling of real life. There are lessons to be learned here: looking past the labels put on people, loyalty to friends, the dangers of obsession (and probably others I’m missing) but none of them are
heavy handed. This is helped by the humour in the book, which isn’t
overdone either.

I also feel the need to say that I’m pleased with the way the author
handled the issue of one character’s allergic condition. This is an issue in my
family, which makes me particularly sensitive to how it’s presented. Too often
I see inaccurate and even ridiculous portrayals of anaphylaxis/allergies
(mostly in movies), which don’t help people understand how serious a problem it
actually is. I was very happy when Maggie Stiefvater accurately portrayed the
severity of this. I have no idea whether this is a personal issue for her, but
at the very least it shows she did her research.

There are many more great things I could say about this book, but I’ve
rambled long enough and I don’t want to give away any spoilers. If you’re big
on stories that have interesting characters and a unique premise, then this is definitely
one to check out.

Thursday, 25 October 2012

As I
mentioned recently, I’m smack in the middle of revising my current WIP. I’ve
been hacking my word count, tossing out adverbs, picking apart grammar,
rewriting and rearranging until I can barely see straight. (Shoot. One of those
stinking “ly” adverbs weaseled its way in there.)

In the
process I’ve been using a certain editing book. I’ve found it very helpful, but
also a little bewildering at times. The authors lay out their rules clearly and
for the most part I understand their point of view on various writing taboos
and see how eliminating some of these practices will lead to a smoother more
professional sounding manuscript. I’ve
never had a finished first draft before now, so I dove into mine prepared to take their
advice on every last detail.

Very quickly
I felt the urge to buck against those rules. When abiding by all of them,
weeding out started to feel more like watering down. I’d read a segment of my
story that I particularly like and balk at the idea of chopping out or rewording.
I did it anyway, but after sifting
through a few chapters I started to worry that it didn’t sound like my writing
anymore. By that point I was frustrated and wondering if I was going overboard.

Then I sat
down and read another nice chunk of The Raven Boys and realized that Maggie
Stiefvater breaks a whole lot of the rules outlined in my editing book:

Don’t use
verbs other than “said” in dialogue tags. Check.

Don’t start a
paragraph with a dialogue tag. Check.

Don’t state how
characters feel rather than showing it. Check.

Don’t use
italics for emphasis. Check.

Don’t
incorporate a lot of poetic wording or figures of speech. Check…

But Maggie
Stiefvater is a talented writer, well known for her distinct style. When she
breaks the rules it works. Her story is engrossing because she does use poetic
language and because she does occasionally start paragraphs with dialogue tags, and refuses
to beat the word “said” senseless. And while she has an incredible knack for showing
us her characters’ emotions, she sometimes just comes right out and tells us
how they feel. Okay, I need to shut up
about Maggie Stiefvater now or I won’t have anything left to say in my review on
The Raven Boys. Of course she's only one author of many that bend the rules and take risks.

My somewhat
longwinded point is that while the rules are there for a reason, it seems a
balanced approach to following them is necessary, otherwise you could strip
your story down to the bare bones and be left with something that lacks emotion
or style. In all fairness, the authors of the editing book I mentioned do warn
against taking certain rules to extremes for these very reasons. If every
writer stuck religiously to the rules we’d have an entire market full of cookie
cutter books. I guess the trick is figuring out when you need to obey the rules
and when it might be better to break them.

Tuesday, 23 October 2012

I have to confess I really haven’t read many dark and scary
books that would suit a more grown up Halloween list. That’s fine because I
think I’d pick most of my favourite Halloween books for nostalgic reasons
anyway. To me, Halloween has always been
a celebration of childhood: costumes, candy, and everything pumpkiny. It’s a
time for creativity and letting your imagination see ghosties and ghoulies and
long-leggedy beasties lurking behind every tree.

These are some of my favorites (at least the ones I could
think of without rooting through our entire book collection). I know it’s Top Ten Tuesday, but seeing as I
included a few series my list is a bit shorter.

1. Harry Potter and
the Prisoner of Azkaban

Every year when fall hits I get in the mood for Harry
Potter—me and three quarters of the planet. Prisoner of Azkaban is
my favourite in the series and it seems especially suited for Halloween
considering the Shrieking Shack and the whole Buckbeak fiasco in Hagrid’s pumpkin patch.

2. Skeleton Creek

The Skeleton Creek series by Patrick Carman is categorized
as middle grade but the characters are teens, so I’d recommend it to anyone who
likes YA as well. Too be honest, I think these books are a little on the scary
side for younger middle graders. The night I finished Skeleton Creek my husband
was out, so I made my son stay up late to keep me company. Yes, I’m a total
chicken. The concept of this series is great. After reading segments
of the book, you’re rewarded with passwords for unlocking online videos. These directly
tie in with the plot. So creepy and fun! I have yet to read The Raven (book four) but
it’s definitely on my TBR list.

3. Coraline

Neil Gaiman has quite the imagination. When Coraline goes through a magical
door in her new-old house, it leads to a world that’s a sinister mirror of her
home and family. This book is full of suspense, creepiness and bizarre
characters. I will never look at buttons the same after reading it. I have to
admit the illustrations in our copy freaked me out a little—but in a fun way.

4. Araminta Spookie

I read this series to my son a number of years ago and he
loved it. These are some of the cutest books we have on our shelves. Just the right amount of spookiness for the
younger crowd and the pictures are adorable. Nothing too scary here, just funny
ghosts, a knitting vampire and lots of bat guano. I wish Angie Sage had written
more of these.

5. Leaf Magic

This was one of my absolute favourite stories when I was
little. It’s really more of an autumn book than a Halloween book, although the
part where the leaf follows the boy home and tries to get in his window is kind
of eerie. Not realizing how much it meant to me, my parents accidentally sold
my copy at a garage sale. A few years ago I was thrilled to find a used copy.

6. Mousekin’s Golden
House

Who could resist a story about a mouse that hibernates in a
jack-o-lantern? The artwork in this book is beautiful and the ending is so
cosy. Perfect for reading to little ones.

7. Georgie’s Halloween

Love this story about a shy little ghost that is more afraid
of children than they are of him. The illustrations--mostly black and white
with a smidge of orange--are wonderful and leave lots of room for imagination. A
sweet book for wee ones at Halloween.

Have any childhood favourites or spooky recommendations
you’d like to share?

Friday, 19 October 2012

Seeing as it’s Friday, I thought I’d kick off the weekend
with something fun.

I think any writer will admit that body language can be
tricky to describe and that it’s hard not to fall into the trap of overusing
certain descriptions. Pretty soon all
the shrugging, eye rolling, and arm crossing can get out of control. While
revising, I’ve definitely come across repetition of certain gestures that I
need to omit or change. One of my personal favourites is raising, arching,
quirking, pinching, and furrowing eyebrows. Apparently the eyebrows in my story
like to bust a move.

Kinda like this:

What can I say? I find eyebrows expressive and in this case
weirdly funny.

Wednesday, 17 October 2012

Road Trip Wednesday is a 'Blog Carnival,' where YA Highway's contributors post a weekly writing-or reading-related question that begs to be answered. In the comments, you can hop from destination to destination and get everybody's unique take on the topic.

This week's topic:

Are you
doing NaNoWriMo, or have you ever? Does having a deadline inspire you?

I’ve never
done NaNoWriMo and I’m not officially participating this time, although I do
plan to dive into the second book in my trilogy very soon. The fact that
November happens to be a couple weeks away isn’t really a factor in that
decision, rather it just happens to be good timing.

Lately I’ve
been working nonstop on revisions. I’m
making good progress (at least I think I am), and while I want to stay focused
on trimming down and sprucing up book one, I don’t want to lose momentum for
actual writing. The other day I jotted down a story detail for my sequel, and it led into ten pages of notes. Probably a good sign that I need to start delving
into book two, and by November I might be able to devote some time to it. Until recently, I always struggled to get the story out of my head and onto the page, computer
screen, whatever. It took a lot of discipline (Butt in Chair…er…on couch) to
finish the first draft of my WIP and to be perfectly honest, it’s like I’m in
withdrawal now because all that discipline sort of turned writing into an
addiction—a healthy one of course.

This whole
plunge into book two directly plays into the second question in this week’s
topic: Does having a deadline inspire you? Heck no! The idea of a deadline
terrifies me. We’re talking enough to induce writer’s block. This is one aspect
of being an author I would definitely find difficult, although I'm sure it's something I'd get used to. Maybe book one will never
end up on a bookstore shelf, but on the off chance it does, I want to be
prepared. I’ll take whatever head start I can get on book two.

Deadlines
aren’t a reality at this point though, so the real reason I want to work on
book two is because I’m eager to keep the story going. This is the one that
clicked for me. I love my characters and I can’t wait to see where the plot
takes them next. Okay, I’ll admit, I already know where the plot is taking them
next --excessive planning is all part of that head start I was talking about--but
I’m looking forward to seeing the story come together, even if it’s just for my
own entertainment.

So while I’m
not officially participating in NaNoWriMo, and I still need to work on revisions, I will
be putting pen to paper and fingers to keyboard to try and get out a nice chunk
of writing. It does provide some motivation knowing that others will be
frantically scribbling away at the same time.

Wednesday, 10 October 2012

What do you hope to be writing in one year? Three? Five?

Road Trip Wednesay is a "Blog Carnival" where YA Highway's contributors post a weekly writing-or reading-related question that begs to be answered. In the comments you can hop from destination to destination and get everybody's unique take on the topic.

Hope is the keyword in
that question. Writing has always been one of the first things to go on the
back burner for me, because “real life” takes over. It wasn’t until my sister
took up writing and provided some much needed accountability that I buckled
down and started realizing if I ever wanted to finish a story I was going to
have to consider writing an important part of my “real life”.

That was about a year ago. Since then, writing has become a priority. Now I’ve got a first draft of a sci-fi/romance
that took just over four months to write and two-thirds of a contemporary
romance done. Pretty surreal to me seeing as my usual pattern was to plan the
heck out of a story and then get bogged down in copious amounts of notes until
I gave up several chapters in. Sometimes I’d half-heartedly poke away at a
story for years. Actually finishing a first draft was a huge goal for me and
now that I’ve accomplished that I’d really like to complete the next two books
in the trilogy.

So what do I see myself writing a year from now? Hopefully book two
and/or three in my sci-fi series because at this point I can’t imagine not
finishing the whole story. I really want
to see it through to the end. And, of course, I’d love to be writing for a real
audience. Seeing as my contemporary romance is the one on hold right now, I also
want to finish it off down the road sometime.

Thinking ahead three to five years just makes my head spin. While
it’s fun to dream about other writing projects, I need to take things one day
at a time and stay focused on revisions. The biggest thing though is giving myself permission to write. Maybe in the future I’ll dig through
some of my old story ideas and see if any of them are worth taking off the back
burner to polish up.

And yes, I had to clean my stove before taking that picture. Housework
is the other thing that ends up on the back burner :) .

Tuesday, 9 October 2012

Top Ten Tuesday: Books On Your Fall TBR List

This week’s
Top Ten Tuesday at the Broke and the Bookish is a rewind to any previous topic
discussed. While I’ve lurked on the blogs for a while now, this is my first
ever post, so I decided to go with something simple. Autumn is already well underway, and I’m smack
in the middle of revising my WIP, which means that more than likely I won’t get
all of these read before winter. Sometimes a little wishful thinking doesn’t
hurt though.

1. Days of
Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor

November 6th
can’t get here fast enough! I recently read Daughter of Smoke and Bone for the
second time and found myself rereading parts of it just to savour the language
Laini Taylor uses. I know the first seven chapters of Days of Blood and
Starlight are available to read online, but I’m holding off until I have the
whole book in my hands. Getting a taste and then having to wait for the rest
would be torture.

2. Such Wicked
Intent by Kenneth Oppel

I loved everything
about This Dark Endeavor: the atmosphere, the characters, the alchemy, the
pretty damask design inside the cover. I was very excited when its sequel
arrived in my mailbox recently, although there’s no pretty pattern inside the cover
this time (so disappointed). Victor Frankenstein is such an intriguing main
character because he constantly struggles between doing the right thing and
giving into his darker ambitions. He’s certainly no Gary Stu and I can’t wait
to see what this second book holds for him.

3. The Kill
Order by James Dashner

I’m not
usually thrilled with the idea of prequels, but in this case I’m eager to read
more about the events leading up to the creation of WICKED and the Glade.

4. Cinder by Marissa Meyer

I received
this one as an early birthday gift from my sister (Thanks, Jaime!) and I’ve
heard so many great things about it. Cinderella as a cyborg has to be one of
the most creative rewrites anyone could come up with.

5. Shatter Me
by Tahereh Mafi

Also
recommended to me by my sister. I’m eager to find out what the deal is with all
the crossed out words in the text. Interesting technique. And who am I kidding?
The words “oozing with romance” in the review on the back cover might have a
little something to do with why I want to read it.

6.

Starling by
Lesley Livingston

I stumbled on
this one during my last visit to the bookstore. Hadn’t even heard of it yet. Love
it when that happens. And like Kenneth Oppel she's a Canadian author. Yay!

7. War Horse by
Michael Morpurgo

My son is
learning about World War I this fall, so we’re going to read War Horse and then
watch the movie. The rule in our house is book first and movie second. Looks
like a real tearjerker, so I hope I can make it through without bawling.

8. The Raven
Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

Hopefully I
can get this one read on time to participate in the YA Book Club. Considering the premise involves a
girl who thinks she’s going to cause her true love to die, that shouldn’t be too
hard. Putting it down might be though.

9. Clockwork
Angel by Cassandra Clare

Just
finishing up The Mortal Instruments and then I’ll be onto The Infernal Devices.
I’m a little late to the game concerning Cassandra Clare’s books, but I’ve been
devouring them for the last month or so. They’ve renewed my interest in
paranormal and I have to admit I’m excited for the City of Bones movie.

10. The Whisper by
Emma Clayton

I read The
Roar quite some time ago, so I’m going to have to refresh my memory before
delving into this sequel. If you’re a fan of Ender’s Game, you might like this middle
grade series.

So there’s a
little bit of everything in my TBR pile (which is really more like a whole bookcase
to be honest). Care to share what you’re
reading this fall?